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Thursday, October 26, 2017

Caroline's White Wine Review at The Table Bay

We are always delighted to be invited to Caroline's wine reviews; her selection of wines is usually very much to our taste. This year her White Wine Review was held again at the Table Bay hotel and was a great event, with lots of newly released wines from familiar farms to taste and new wines we have not heard of before as well as some older gems. The many MCCs and other bubbles were arranged in a row in the first room; what a lovely way to start a tasting. The wines of the evening that really impressed us were the Richard Kershaw Elgin 2016 Clonal Selection Chardonnay, the Anthonij Rupert Cape of Good Hope Caroline wine blend, a superb food wine, Almenkerk Chardonnay, Cape Chamonix Chardonnay, Life from Stone Sauvignon Blanc from Springfield and Nick van Aarde's White Lady Chardonnay. Obviously the Chardonnays were really hitting the spot! We try but we cannot taste all the wines

A smiling Caroline Rillema

Nicki and Nadia Beaumont were showcasing winemaker Sebastian Beaumont's 2016 New Baby, a great white blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Chardonnay, Semillon and Colombard. This is about to be released in a week or so

Ginny Povall of Botanica with her lovely layered Mary Delaney Chenin Blanc, beautifully bottled, one of our top wines of the evening

Jane Eedes with Nico and Petra van der Merwe

On the Bon Courage stand with their new Jacques Bruére Rosé MCC are Michelle Elford and winemaker Jacques Bruwer with his daughter

Colmant was a popular stand with their crisp and elegant Brut Chardonnay MCC, produced by JP Colmant, here with his daughter

Restaurateur Neil Grant with Chloé Nimmo of Graham Beck

and on the Simonsig stand winemakers Debbie Thompson and Hannes Meyer showing the Cuvée Royale Brut MCC 2012, one of their best ever vintages

John and Karen Loubser of Silverthorn were showing their elegant Green Man Brut MCC 2015

Cape Point winemaker Riandri Visser with her 2016 Isliedh white blend

Joaquim Sa of Amorim Cork chatting to John Loubser

What's the weather like up there?

Lynne looking up to one of our tall wine people, Andrew Gunn of Iona Vineyards

Aletté van Vuuren showing the Ken Forrester Roussanne

Paul Kruger of Villiera having a taste of Hartenberg's 2015 The Eleanor Chardonnay, one of the best, from winemaker Patrick Ngamane

Boela Gerber of Groot Constanta

Stephanie Wiid of Fairview with their 2016 Nurok white blend

Richard de Almeida of De Morgenzon showing their Reserve Chenin blanc

David Sadie with their David and Nadia 2016 Aristargos white blend

Two very good wine promoters enjoying the evening, Kyle Martin and Clark Truter

Jenna Bruwer of Springfield with their Life from Stone Sauvignon Blanc 2017 which is drinking beautifully this year

Ernst and Nina-Mari Bruwer from Mont Blois with their 2016 Kweekkamp Chardonnay, a new wine for us. Nina-Mari is the winemaker

Caroline having a last toast of SImonsig MCC with Debbie Thompson

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Prescient Chardonnay Report 2017 convened by Winemag.co.za

Another competition from WineMag.co.za. This time with sponsors Prescient and some great local Chardonnays achieved very high marks. There were 11 wines scoring 93 to 95 this year and we tasted them at The Stack in the Gardens. During the disastrous ABC (Anything But Chardonnay) years Chardonnay became popular worldwide and our winemakers, embracing the challenge, planted it. Sadly many, who had not worked with this noble grape before, gave it far too much new wood contact and put many South Africans off drinking it; it was a tough ride for the industry. But times have changed, much more experience has been gained and we now have much success with different styles appearing. Sales are growing and the wine is being enjoyed. It is also winning many accolades from top judges here and worldwide. We can and do grow and make superb Chardonnay

We do find that the three judges prefer quite a linear, leaner style and they did introduce a French Chardonnay into the blind tasting, which we find rather contentious as we cannot produce this style very often and, maybe, we should be lauding and producing wine which speaks to our own climate and terroirs? There were some excellent Chardonnays for tasting. This noble grape, made famous in the Burgundy area of France, has been grown in South African since the 1980s and plantings total 7% of the national vineyard

Making a statement!?

Swopping stories over a beer were Jonathan Snashall, Miles Mossop, André Morgenthal and Christian Eedes

We were all enjoying some MCC bubbles on the terrace before the awards

Lourensford winemaker Hannes Nel

Rose Jordaan of Bartinney Wines

And then it was time for the awards. The top wines were as follows:

Delaire Graff Banghoek Reserve. 2016 Price: R200. Perfume of golden flowers and fruit, honeysuckle and ripe peach, both on nose and palate, with limes and granadilla, wood just in the background and fresh on the finish

Eikendal 2016. Price: R163. Fresh with fennel on the nose, crisp and fresh acidity in layers, heady and enjoyable

Rustenberg Stellenbosch 2016. Price: R175. Golden Chardonnay nose, so enticing. Sweet fruit in layers nicely balanced. Wood just hinting with caramel and smoke

94
Dabar 2016. Price: R97. From Napier grapes. smoky soft fruitm smooth and sliky on the palate with apples, greengages and a fresh ending

93
Evidence 2016. (Sophie & Julien Schaal) Price: R250. Restrained on the nose, familiar, herbal and fresh

Hartenberg The Eleanor 2015. Price: R325. Shy on the nose with vanilla wood. This is the style of Chardonnay we want to drink Golden fruit, buttery, freshness with a tingle on the end. Made for food

93
Holden Manz Barrel Fermented 2016. Price: R225. Perfumed, waxy on the nose, good fruit on the palate initially then wood takes over

Longridge Organic 2015. Price: R165. Perfumed, a charming entry, layers of fruit and wood, caramel apple and limes with a long finish on a woody end.

Paul Cluver Seven Flags 2016. Price: R550. Pure delight, buttery and floral, layers of fruit apple, peaches pineapple with such length. Wood supports not overwhelming.

Tokara Reserve Collection Stellenbosch 2016. Price: R180. Cigar smoke on the nose, Greengage apple and lime on the good palate, freshness on the end

Uva Mira 2016. Price: TBC. Smoky, rounded complete with pears and apples on the nose, butter, lemon and limes with a very fresh finish

There were also some canapés served. Smoked salmon

Beef tartare

Roast beef with horseradish

Small bitterballen and also some arancini balls

Jacqueline Lahoud announced the winners who all received certificates

Morné Vrey of Delaire with judge James Pietersen

Craig Mockford, CEO of Prescient, said that this was their third year as sponsors of this competition, which is in its 7th year. There were 91 wines in the line up and 42 scored 90 or more, which is impressive

Paying attention

Christian Eedes told us that this was the first time the competition was open to all, and not by invitation, as it was previously. And not capped at 60 wines. There was an entry fee of R450 per wine. It is extraordinary how wide the selection is, from light to powerful wines. Producers need to be careful of the wines at these edges, the big wines were not rewarded. The styles are reductive vs oxidative. A little burnt match and steel on reductive is good, but wines should not be pinched on the palate. Oxidative characteristics of apple, honey and nuts are also not rewarded, as the judges find them to be more like Chenin in style. The judges were blown away by the quality, the variation in style and the improvement in the vintages, which just continue to get better

Achim and Hildegard von Arnim of Haute Cabrière. Their wine, Haute Cabrière Reserve 2016,priced at R190, scored a creditable 90 points

Rose having fun after the award announcements

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